TODAY'S FAMILY & KIDS ACTIVITIES IN ROCKLAND-FEB 7

Whatever you're looking to do with your family and kids-libraries, festivals, museums, arts & crafts-you'll find it in today's list of fun and educational activities for families and kids in Rockland. Check out the NY Metro Parents' calendar for upcoming events!

Parents with walkers up to 24 months are invited to join the library for feltboard stories, Mother Goose rhymes, finger plays, creative movement with songs, a simple sticker craft, and bubbles. Thursdays through February 14. Pre-registration is required.

Parents with children ages 24-36 months are invited to this introduction to storytime with simple picture book stories, finger plays, creative movement with music, and a themed coloring sheet. Thursdays through February 14. Pre-registration is required.

Students in grades 8-12 are invited to a brainstorming session to help create community service projects. Participants will discuss various projects and review different charities to determine which ones to help.

The JCC's Cathie Izen hosts this leadership and brainstorming meeting where teens can come together to create community service projects that help people locally, nationally, and internationally. Participants will review different charities to decide which ones to support. In the process, participants will develop communication and leadership skills, learn how to brainstorm, and enhance their compassion for others. Students in grades 7 and 8 meet at 7pm; students in grades 9-12 meet at 8pm.

Produce Pete, aka Pete Napolitano, from Weekend Today on WNBC will to talk to the kids in the Have Fun Get Fit class about how to choose fruits and vegetables and how to know what's ripe and in season. All are welcome to attend.

Take refuge from winter by retreating to Tropical Paradise - a showcase of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory's permanent collection, including orange-yellow crotons, fuchsia bromeliads, and rosy-red hibiscus. You'll feel like you are on vacation without leaving New York.
View The Beauty of Paradise: A Photographic Tour during regular Garden hours. See a photographic display of tropical paradises around the world. Learn about plants and flowers found in tropical climes through a display of exceptional photographs from the prestigious International Garden Photographer of the Year Contest, of which the Botanical Garden is the US partner. Access additional details about the displayed photographs via your smartphone.
Inside the cozy Discovery Center in the Everett Children's Adventure Garden, kids of all ages can take a closer look at the differences between tropical and temperate plants in Tropical Discoveries and Wintertime Wonders. Pot up a specimen plant to take home and compare its characteristics with foliage in your neighborhood; make bark rubbings, count tree rings, and head back into the winter garden with a field notebook to discover the vital sparks of life that lie just below the surface of this quiet season. On view January 19-February 24.
Please confirm hours on the day of your visit by calling 718-817-8700.

SUNY Rockland hosts this photographic journey of the African Diaspora that documents blacks in a variety of situations as they: cope with uncertainty, celebrate their joy, and struggle to live a dignified life in difficult circumstances. The exhibit features images by RCC Campus Photographer Collette V. Fournier and captions by David Lucinda.

The Historical Society once again presents this delightful winter exhibit featuring little creations that can be appreciated by visitors of all ages. The exhibition showcases the work of miniature artists, fine artists, quilters, dollhouse collectors, and creators.

The 2008 Tony Award winning musical weaves a tale about three days in the life of Washington Heights, a vibrant and tight-knit community at the top of the island of Manhattan. It's a place where the coffee from the corner bodega is light and sweet, the windows are always open, and the breeze carries the rhythm of three generations of music. The unique and exhilarating score is a dazzling array of hip-hop, salsa, pop, soul, reggae, cha-cha, and mambo, including, "When You're Home," "It Won't Be Long Now," and "In The Heights." Show runs through March 17, 2013. Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday matinees including lunch; Thursday, Friday Saturday, and Sunday Evenings including dinner.

The dance studio hosts a weekly introduction to Salsa with music and dance. There will be an informal beginners Afro-Cuban style salsa lesson and participants are welcome to bring their own refreshments. If there are no children in attendance, the studio will host a full 1 1/2 hour class for a fee of $20. Pre-registration is suggested.

Larry Lederman, landscape photographer and member of NYBG's Board of Advisors, has spent years walking the garden grounds to observe and photograph trees and vistas in all seasons and at all times of day. Lush images featuring their diversity and visual impact are on view in the gallery space.
The New York Botanical Garden is home to more than 30,000 trees, some in woodland, some in groves, and some standing in solitary majesty. Magnificent Trees is lavishly illustrated with photographs by Larry Lederman and accompanied by descriptions by Todd A. Forrest, Arthur Ross vice president for horticulture and living collections at the garden. An authority on the diverse species present across the 250-acre landscape, Forrest details their fascinating histories -- from their vital role in Native American life and culture to their function in neutral territory during the Revolutionary War. Lederman captures their grandeur in hundreds of stunning images and portrays their diversity with photographs that reveal the trees in myriad fascinating perspectives: in landscape views that convey the garden's genius loci; portraits illustrating the architecture and profound visual impact of select trees; remarkable details of flowers, fruit, leaves, and bark; and impressionistic images, abstract in character yet beautiful in composition.

Farm market fans have no fear, the Nyack market is moving indoors for the winter. Familiar vendors from the summer market will be on hand each Thursday through May 2 selling locally-produced food, wine, baked goods, and more.

Parents with pre-schoolers are invited to this weekly playgroup, which meets most Tuesdays (skips March 26) through May 14. Kirkbride Hall is a gymnasium with plenty of space for kids to run, jump, dance or otherwise have fun.

Parents with pre-schoolers are invited to this weekly playgroup, which meets most Wednesdays (skips March 27) through May 15. Kirkbride Hall is a gymnasium with plenty of space for kids to run, jump, dance or otherwise have fun.

In the late 18th century, British artists developed the large-scale panorama, which became a popular form of entertainment in Europe and the United States. The Hudson River Museum's exhibition, "The Panoramic River: the Hudson and the Thames," explores the panoramic vista as the ideal expression for a new, all-embracing way of seeing the landscape that influenced how the public and artists perceived it as well. By the early 19th century, painters such as Robert Havell Jr. worked to express this panoramic perspective in their choice and depiction of vistas. Havell and other artists in the exhibition such as Thomas Cole, Jasper Cropsey, and John Kensett, favored the chain of cities, suburbs, and countryside along these two rivers, where horizontal planes and historical associations gave form to both artistic and cultural expression.
"The Panoramic River" features loans from museums, galleries, and private collections. Museums lending paintings include: Baltimore Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Fenimore Art Museum, The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College; Maryland State Archives; Metropolitan Museum of Art; The New-York Historical Society; and Princeton University Art Museum.
"The Panoramic River" is organized by Hudson River Museum co-curators Bartholomew Bland, Director of Curatorial Affairs, and Laura Vookles, Chief Curator of Collections. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue with additional essays by Pat Hardy, Curator of Paintings, Prints and Drawings, Museum of London, and Geoff Snell, Doctoral Student, University of Sussex and the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England.
The exhibition and the accompanying catalogue have been made possible by a generous grant from the Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Foundation for the Arts, Inc. On view through May 19, 2013.

The JCC is seeking local teens for its weekly internet radio show, Jake Talks. Students will cover news and "hot topics" while having fun and learning the ins and outs of radio broadcasting. The show airs live each Monday at 5pm. Hear the show at rocklandworldradio.com. Listeners can call in to share their views by dialing 845-353-2910. Interested participants should contact Cathie Izen at cathiei@jccrockland.org, 845-362-4400 extension 103. Each Monday through May 20.

The school invites mothers and their pre-schoolers to this weekly playgroup with music & movement, arts & crafts, celebrations of the Jewish holidays, and Hebrew stories. Group meets each Wednesday through June 5.

Home schooled children ages 5-12 will discover ecological and biological principles and gain an appreciation and understanding of the natural world at this monthly program, held the first Thursday of each month. Each two-hour program will consist of indoor and outdoor hands-on learning and close observations on a 380-acre living museum. Space is limited and pre-registration is required. Parents can sign up for the series or just a single session. Through June 6.

kids pre-school through second grade can sing Shabbat songs, talk about the Torah portion of the week, have a snack, then return to the main sanctuary to lead the congregation in Adon Olam. Saturdays through June 15.